Is grief coaching a faith-based practice?

No. Grief coaching as INBGC defines it is non-clinical and non-sectarian. Certification does not ask a coach to set aside their beliefs. It asks them to be clear with a client about which service they are receiving, and to support the client's own beliefs as a resource for meaning, following the client's lead, whether or not the coach shares them.

Can clergy coach members of their own congregation?

Not in both roles at once. The Code of Ethics treats a second relationship with a current client as a dual relationship to avoid rather than to manage with disclosure. A person is a parishioner or a coaching client, and moving between the two is done explicitly, with a clear ending of one before the other begins, rather than by letting the roles blur.

Does pastoral grief support count as verified practice hours?

Yes, provided the work was grief support with individuals and can be documented. Hours may be paid or unpaid and delivered in a congregational, hospice, hospital, or community setting, documented through a signed attestation plus one supporting record such as scheduling documentation or a signed confirmation from someone with direct knowledge of the work.

Why should clergy get board certified in grief coaching?

Because pastoral care is bounded by the community that authorizes it. Board certification makes grief work verifiable to people outside a tradition, referable by organizations that cannot evaluate a denominational credential, and portable if a role or setting changes.

FOR CLERGY AND PASTORAL CAREGIVERS

Grief Coach Certification for Clergy and Pastoral Caregivers

You are a pastor, chaplain, or pastoral caregiver, and sitting with people in loss is already part of your calling.

You already sit with people in loss. It may be the part of the work you are most trusted for. What board certification adds is a way for people outside your tradition to see it.

The distinction

Why certify if you already do pastoral care?

In short

Because pastoral care is bounded by the community that authorizes it. Board certification is not. It makes your grief work verifiable to people outside your tradition, referable by organizations that cannot evaluate a denominational credential, and portable if your role changes.

What ordination, commissioning, or a denominational credential establishes is your standing inside a tradition. That standing is real, and within your community it is sufficient.

A hospice bereavement coordinator, an employee assistance program, or a family with no faith affiliation has no way to evaluate it. That is not doubt about you. They have no reference point, and most will not refer without something they can check.

Your standing travels within your tradition. A board credential travels everywhere else.

The difference it makes

What board certification changes

In short

You can serve beyond your congregation, receive referrals from organizations that need a verifiable credential, and carry the work with you if your role or setting changes.

Reach beyond the congregation

Grief coaching lets you serve people outside your faith community, including those with no faith affiliation, in a frame that does not assume a shared tradition.

Referable to secular organizations

Hospices, funeral homes, employers, employee assistance programs, and clinicians can verify a board credential. Most cannot evaluate a denominational one, and many will not refer without something they can check.

Portable across roles

Ministry roles change, calls end, and chaplaincy contracts conclude. A board credential is yours rather than the institution's, and it does not require anyone to vouch for you afterward.

A published scope you can point to

An enforceable Code of Ethics and Scope of Practice states where coaching ends and clinical care begins, which is exactly the boundary pastoral caregivers are most often asked to hold alone.

Verification is the mechanism underneath all four. Every certificant is issued a credential number, and anyone you give it to can confirm your standing in the INBGC registry, at no cost and without involving you or your institution.

What comes with the credential

Practice resources. Every certificant has access to the board's practice resources, free and permanently. They cover how referrals work and who makes them, how to approach a hospice, funeral home, chaplaincy network, or employee assistance program, how to explain scope and referral thresholds in a conversation, and how to be findable and independently verifiable. They exist so certificants are prepared to serve grieving people well. They are not business training, they are not a bonus offered as a reason to certify, and they make no claim about what a practice will earn.

Group rates on professional liability coverage. Board certified coaches qualify for group rates on professional liability coverage through INBGC's insurance partners. If you coach outside your institution, this is coverage your congregation or employer is unlikely to extend to you.

The matching pool. Active certificants are matched with individuals and referral partners who submit a request through Find a Grief Coach. Position is never sold.

For the full practice case, see why grief coaches get board certified. For what the process involves end to end, see certification.

Scope

Pastoral care and grief coaching are not the same

In short

Pastoral care is offered within a tradition and often includes spiritual formation, ritual, and the resources of a faith community. Grief coaching is non-clinical, forward-focused support delivered within a published scope, offered to anyone regardless of belief. Many people do both. They are different services and the distinction matters.

Pastoral care

Offered within a faith tradition, to those who share it or seek it. May include prayer, ritual, sacrament, scripture, and the accompaniment of a community. Authorized by the tradition.

Grief coaching

Offered to anyone, regardless of belief. Structured, confidential, forward-focused support within a published non-clinical scope. Verified by an independent board.

Certification does not ask you to set aside what you believe. It asks you to be clear with a client about which service they are receiving, so that someone seeking coaching is not receiving formation they did not ask for, and someone seeking pastoral care is not receiving coaching instead.

The standard also requires supporting a client's own faith as a resource for meaning, following their lead, whether or not you share it. That applies equally to a client whose beliefs differ from yours and to a client who holds none.

The Code of Ethics addresses this directly, and scope of practice and referral is one of the six Board Examination topic areas.

Review the Code of Ethics and Scope of Practice

Eligibility

Does your training qualify?

In short

More pastoral training counts than people expect. Clinical Pastoral Education units, seminary coursework in bereavement and pastoral care, chaplaincy training, and denominational continuing education all count toward the grief-specific education requirement, and education from more than one source may be combined.

CPE counts

Units of Clinical Pastoral Education are supervised, documented education with substantial grief and bereavement content, and they count toward the education requirement. If you hold CPE units, bring the documentation from your training center.

What counts as grief-specific education

Clinical Pastoral Education units, documented through your training center
Seminary coursework in pastoral care, bereavement, thanatology, or death and dying
Chaplaincy training, including hospice and hospital chaplaincy programs
Denominational continuing education in grief, funeral ministry, or care of the bereaved
Grief-specific training from any qualified provider

What is assessed is whether the six topic areas are covered between them. INBGC sets no hours minimum, because hours measure time spent rather than competence. Where an area is not covered, you close that gap through any qualified provider. INBGC does not provide foundational grief coach training at any price, which is what allows the board to review any provider's education without a stake in the outcome.

Practice hours and what else is required

50 verified practice hours. Grief support you have delivered pastorally counts. Paid or unpaid, in a congregational, hospice, hospital, or community setting, documented through your signed attestation plus one supporting record. No congregant or client participates in the process
Agreement to the Code of Ethics and Scope of Practice
A passing result on the Board Examination, at 80 percent across six equally weighted topic areas
A government-issued photo ID and a computer that can run the proctoring platform. A desktop or laptop with webcam and microphone. Tablets and phones are not supported

Not sure whether your training counts? Write to [email protected] before you apply. Program Administration will review it with you at no cost. See the full eligibility requirements.

Fees

What does it cost?

In short

$3,750 on the Certification Path, or $3,900 on a payment plan. Annual renewal is $495. All fees are non-refundable.

Certification Path

$3,750

Covers application and eligibility review, education review against the six topic areas, one Practice Exam attempt with a topic-area breakdown, the proctored Board Examination, verified practice hours review, credential issuance, and your first year of certification.

A payment plan totaling $3,900 is available, structured as a down payment plus three monthly payments. See the funding options for the full schedule.

Some clergy fund certification through a continuing education or professional development allowance, which many denominations and employing institutions provide. Hospices and health systems that employ chaplains may fund board certification from a credentialing budget. INBGC provides itemized invoices and documentation for a finance office or denominational treasurer.

Specialty endorsements

Once you hold an active BCGC, you may add a specialty endorsement for $1,250, reaching $5,000 in total. BCGC-AG covers illness and anticipatory grief, which sits closest to chaplaincy and hospital work, and BCGC-AC covers ambiguous loss and caregiving. The others are BCGC-RL for divorce and relationship dissolution, BCGC-CL for workplace and career loss, and BCGC-PL for pet loss. Each requires a separate proctored Endorsement Examination, and a suffix never appears without an active base credential behind it. The Specialty Path reaches the same $5,000 by purchasing both at the outset.

Cost a barrier? The INBGC Access Award reduces the certification fee for coaches serving communities with limited access to grief support. The award reduces the fee and never the standard. Full fee schedule.

Common questions

No. Certification is independent of your role, your ordination, and your employer. The credential may be held alongside a ministry or chaplaincy position and used for work beyond the congregation. Your institution is not involved in the process unless it is funding it.

Yes. CPE units are supervised, documented education with substantial grief and bereavement content, and they count toward the grief-specific education requirement. Bring the documentation from your training center.

No. Grief coaching as INBGC defines it is non-clinical and non-sectarian. Certification does not ask you to set aside your beliefs. It asks you to be clear with a client about which service they are receiving, and to support the client's own beliefs as a resource for meaning, following their lead, whether or not you share them.

Not in both roles at once. The Code of Ethics treats a second relationship with a current client as a dual relationship to avoid rather than to manage with disclosure. A person is your parishioner or your coaching client, and moving between the two is done explicitly, with a clear ending of one before the other begins, rather than by letting the roles blur. A paid coaching arrangement with someone you also serve pastorally is the case to be most careful about.

Chaplaincy board certification verifies chaplaincy practice, usually within institutional settings and often requiring CPE units and endorsement. BCGC verifies non-clinical grief coaching, offered to anyone, in any setting, without institutional affiliation. They are complementary and neither substitutes for the other.

Yes, provided the work was grief support with individuals and can be documented. Hours may be paid or unpaid and delivered in a congregational, hospice, hospital, or community setting, documented through your signed attestation plus one supporting record such as scheduling documentation or a signed confirmation from someone with direct knowledge of the work.

The Certification Path is $3,750, or $3,900 on a payment plan, and annual renewal is $495 after the first year. A specialty endorsement may be added later for $1,250. INBGC provides itemized invoices and documentation for a finance office or denominational treasurer.

No. All fees paid to INBGC are non-refundable. Every requirement and every fee is published in advance, so review the eligibility requirements and the fee schedule before you register, and ask Program Administration any question at no cost beforehand.

Next step

Extend the care beyond the congregation

Creating your account takes about a minute and does not enroll or charge you, and you choose your path in the next step.

Get certified Check your eligibility

Part of How to Become a Grief Coach. See also for healthcare professionals if you serve in a hospice or hospital setting, and Grief Coach vs. Therapist for the scope distinction.